Paying for Room Service with Disney Gift Cards?

[StarlitNight05]

Am I right to assume that one can order room service from an on-property hotel (GCH in this case), charge the meal to your room, and then pay off the balance at the front desk with Disney gift cards? I am thinking that room service may be most convenient for our October trip when EMH starts at 7am and I have a TON of Disney gift cards that I've accumulated.

Also, does any one have the recent room service menu? All I can seem to find are possibly outdated ones on Allears from 2014.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Anything you charge to your room you can pay off with Disney gift cards! Just make sure to go to the front desk once a day to pay down the charges, otherwise they may run the charges on your credit card after a day or two and you get to the night before check-out and the front desk says "we already charged your credit card". (And if the CM checking you in says you can do it the night before check-out do not listen. They are wrong.)

(Yes, I have an unfortunate story but at the end it worked out. Even if they charge your credit card you can get the charges reversed and pay with gift cards, it's just a real pain. Admittedly I had an overly lazy CM, or maybe they were scared of their manager? idk, on my last night when I went to pay my account at DLH. I kept saying I want to pay with my gift card and his response kept being "sorry, we already charged your credit card" like he thought I'd totally just go "oh, ok" and walk away? I actually had to demand he get a manager. Usually something wonky like that happens and the CM would just go get someone higher up the food chain on their own... Anyways about 45 mins later a manager got the charges reversed, while having the gall to chide me about how this is how their system works -uh, lady YOUR CM at the check-in desk told me it worked differently now- and they finally charged my gift cards but save yourself the hassle- pay off your room account with gift cards each evening!) So, apparently that late night episode from last year's trip is still bothering me...

In much more useful information OP, are you using disneygiftcard.com to combine your gift cards? You can put up to $1,000 on each gift card.

 

[nutshell]

Not positive, but as a frequent traveler I don't believe you'll have any trouble with the plan. Nothing is actually charged until check out and you can give them the Disney gift cards then. Good luck!

 

[StarlitNight05]

In much more useful information OP, are you using disneygiftcard.com to combine your gift cards? You can put up to $1,000 on each gift card.

Thanks for the response -- its really helpful! Sorry you had that bad experience. I'll make sure to pay down the balance each day so I don't have to waste time fixing a disaster like that!

I do use disneygiftcard.com to combine cards before the trip. It's so much easier to do that rather than keeping track of what card has been used, etc. However, this is the first time I'm planning on using gift cards to pay for a good chunk of our park purchases.

 

[jrjankowski8]

Related/Un-related question. Does anyone know if you can link gift cards to your app to pay for MaxPass? Similar to the question the OP posed. Thanks!

EDIT - Disregard. I just tried to enter a gift card under payment method on the app and it doesn't allow you to. I'm assuming I could go to guest services and probably pay for it outright, but that's a whole 'nother process that no one wants to go through first thing when they walk through the gates.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

We just used our gift cards at check-in. Seemed easier than doing throughout the trip or taking the chance of them charging before going to the front desk.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Not positive, but as a frequent traveler I don't believe you'll have any trouble with the plan. Nothing is actually charged until check out and you can give them the Disney gift cards then. Good luck!

Sorry, not how it works at Disney. See my story of the night before check-out above.

 

[gottalovepluto]

We just used our gift cards at check-in. Seemed easier than doing throughout the trip or taking the chance of them charging before going to the front desk.

Nice, but every time we've tried they won't accept any gift card amount over what the room has accrued in charges up to that point in time.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Related/Un-related question. Does anyone know if you can link gift cards to your app to pay for MaxPass? Similar to the question the OP posed. Thanks!

EDIT - Disregard. I just tried to enter a gift card under payment method on the app and it doesn't allow you to. I'm assuming I could go to guest services and probably pay for it outright, but that's a whole 'nother process that no one wants to go through first thing when they walk through the gates.

SO glad you asked that- I just assumed I could! Gah Disney IT

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Thanks for the response -- its really helpful! Sorry you had that bad experience. I'll make sure to pay down the balance each day so I don't have to waste time fixing a disaster like that!

I do use disneygiftcard.com to combine cards before the trip. It's so much easier to do that rather than keeping track of what card has been used, etc. However, this is the first time I'm planning on using gift cards to pay for a good chunk of our park purchases.

It is possible they do charge people's card before check out sometimes, but we've stayed at DLH half a dozen times, always payed with GCs, and always paid on the last night because they don't let you pay ahead, just per day (so you would have to go to the lobby each night, which is a pain to me). They have never charged our credit card early. Last stay there was Sept 2017 (Edit: haha that's 2016, wish it were this month!) if that helps; just double check policy when you check in. They will preauthorize your credit card though, so perhaps make sure to use a card with a large open credit limit, even if you're paying with GCs. Once I gave them a little credit card not thinking it mattered, and once I hit that threshold charging to my room, my room charge was rejected at a restaurant. I had gift cards on me so no big deal, but I had to switch my credit card on file that evening so I could keep charging on my room and not have to carry large amt of gift cards in the Parks.

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Nice, but every time we've tried they won't accept any gift card amount over what the room has accrued in charges up to that point in time.

I didn't use GCs for the whole bill

 

[Malcon10t]

I've given gift cards on check in to prepay for a room, wasn't an issue. When I put the room on a CC, while it isn't charged until the day of departure, there is a hold placed on the card.

 

[cruisehopeful]

When I check in, I give my gift card and my credit card. I tell them to use my gift card balance first. They've always done it right (GCH).

 

[gottalovepluto]

I didn't use GCs for the whole bill

Ah! Yeah, guess I should have said I pay almost the whole bill with gift cards. Important distinction!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I've given gift cards on check in to prepay for a room, wasn't an issue.

How do you get them to do that? I've tried multiple times but they won't accept more than that night's room charge (& whatever charges have accrued) & won't let me pre-pay the remaining nights on the reservation.

 

[Malcon10t]

How do you get them to do that? I've tried multiple times but they won't accept more than that night's room charge (& whatever charges have accrued) & won't let me pre-pay the remaining nights on the reservation.

I've just handed them the gift cards and my credit card and said you the gift cards first. When I get the bill, it shows they applied the gift cards day of arrival and I have a credit balance that declines thru the stay, then the credit card is billed at the end for the balance.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I've just handed them the gift cards and my credit card and said you the gift cards first. When I get the bill, it shows they applied the gift cards day of arrival and I have a credit balance that declines thru the stay, then the credit card is billed at the end for the balance.

Confidence!! No "can you?..." nonsense, I like it! I'm gonna give it a shot in a couple weeks

 

[D2Pugs]

Has anyone paid with GC's towards their stay under dapper day or convention rates?

 

[aliceindisneyland]

Has anyone paid with GC's towards their stay under dapper day or convention rates?

Yep, same process as any other reservation: you can pay with gcs. But, you will be charged the first night as a nonrefundable deposit, including tax on a credit card when you book the convention rate online. I believe last year I booked a convention rate over the phone and asked about paying with gc for the deposit, but was told since it's nonrefundable, they can't use a gc. You could certainly try calling though, now I'm wishing I had at least tried that for our upcoming Dapper Day stay.

 

[Angrose]

I have heard in the past that when you check in you can have them refund your credit card for the first night's deposit and then re-pay it with the gift cards at the front desk. I'm not 100% if it works for the Dapper Day rates or if that method will still work in general. I know I have called the DLH front desk before, asked them directly and they said yes I could do that. You need to call the hotel directly though, not Disney reservations.